19-20.] 



Grass and Clover Seed Growing. 



537 



Red Clover. — At present the bulk of English Red ( lover 

 seed is produced in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedford, Hertford, 

 Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Cornwall. 

 Gloucester, Oxford, Hereford, Montgomery and Denbigh. The- 

 proportion of the county occupied by the seed crops varies 

 greatly, however, and while, for instance, nearly every farmer 

 in Essex north of Brentwood produces some seed in a good 

 season, in Cornwall none is grown except in one very restricted 

 area about Wadebridge. 



To a great extent the more important Bed Clover growing 

 districts produce both Broad Bed and Late Flowering Red 

 (Single Cut Cow-grass) ; the two are so similar in morphology 

 and as regards requirements, that this is to be expected. The 

 amount of Broad Bed produced in the United Kingdom appears, 

 however, to be about five times that of Late Flowering Bed. 

 There is at present an increase in demand for home-grown seed 

 of true Single Cut Cow T -grass, and in some districts a regrettable 

 confusion between the characters and qualities of Single Cut 

 Cow-grass and those of ordinary Broad Bed Clover, an undesir- 

 able state of affairs in view of the peculiar advantages possessed 

 by each variety for special purposes. True Single Cut Cow- 

 grass is a variety, the production of which could with advantage 

 be materially increased. In the first place the increasing- 

 demand, mentioned above, would be better met by home-grown 

 seed than by foreign. Secondly, in some of the heavy clover 

 producing districts the industry suffers under the scourge of 

 clover sickness, sometimes fungoid, sometimes due to eelworms. 

 The funeroid type seems much more frequent than the eelworm 

 type, and it is well established that true Single Cut Cow-grass is 

 much less attacked by the disease than is Broad Bed- 

 Single Cut Cow-grass might very well be grown, therefore, in 

 those districts where clover sickness inhibits the growth of 

 Broad Bed. Again, many growers in other areas are obliged 

 to limit their Broad Bed crops to one in every two rotations, and 

 to insert some other crop, not used for seed, in the alternate 

 cycles. This difficulty could be eliminated by the use of Single 

 Cut Cow-grass alternately with Broad Bed. 



It should be noted by intending growers of Single Cut Cow- 

 grass, that to obtain true and genuine seed in the first instance 

 is of immense importance, and as the supply is none too plentiful 

 it is not always easy to do so. 



In this connection arises the question of acclimatisation . Tt 

 is held by some men of experience and authority that strains 



